Book-based films

As anyone who has seen any version of Anna Karenina knows, a great book does not necessarily make a great film. And while The Godfather was a great movie, was it a great novel? Probably not.

For the Book Club’s reference, the list of the top 50 nominations for film adaptations by The Guardian is below. Now that we have been watching some of these adaptations, what do you think makes for a good adaptation? Which book would you want to watch as a film?

From words to pictures

1. 1984
2. Alice in Wonderland
3. American Psycho
4. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
5. Brighton Rock
6. Catch 22
7. Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
8. A Clockwork Orange
9. Close Range (inc Brokeback Mountain)
10. The Day of the Triffids
11. Devil in a Blue Dress
12. Different Seasons (inc The Shawshank Redemption)
13. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (aka Bladerunner)
14. Doctor Zhivago
15. Empire of the Sun
16. The English Patient
17. Fight Club
18. The French Lieutenant’s Woman
19. Get Shorty
20. The Godfather
21. Goldfinger
22. Goodfellas
23. Heart of Darkness (aka Apocalypse Now)
24. The Hound of the Baskervilles
25. Jaws
26. The Jungle Book
27. A Kestrel for a Knave (aka Kes)
28. LA Confidential
29. Les Liaisons Dangereuses
30. Lolita
31. Lord of the Flies
32. The Maltese Falcon
33. Oliver Twist
34. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
35. Orlando
36. The Outsiders
37. Pride and Prejudice
38. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
39. The Railway Children
40. Rebecca
41. The Remains of the Day
42. Schindler’s Ark (aka Schindler’s List)
43. Sin City
44. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
45. The Talented Mr Ripley
46. Tess of the D’Urbervilles
47. To Kill a Mockingbird
48. Trainspotting
49. The Vanishing
50. Watership Down